Sandy Marsh has been out for eight months with a knee injury, suffering from a torn meniscus and a Baker's cyst. Although the 66-year-old from Okotoks, Alta., says her condition is improving, recovery is a struggle without the support of her family doctor.
Marsh hasn't had a primary care provider since August, after her family doctor left her local health clinic to pursue a new career path.
Marsh said: There are many people and few doctors.
She is one of the few seniors across the country who wrote in about their struggles to find a family doctor. Especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, health care systems across the country have been facing labor shortages caused by the migration of nurses and other health care workers who have left the profession.
As a result, some Canadians can't book a family doctor or surgery in a reasonable amount of time, says Dr. Leslie Charles, a professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta. With the elderly population expected to reach new heights in the coming decades, experts warn that Canada's health care system is not ready for an aging population.


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